gamavsgolaTell them apart

Quick tell: gama is a noun, gola is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gama” is a noun and “gola” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,333
“gama” frequency rank
#24,999
“gola” frequency rank
28332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gama gola
Definition série contínua de grandezas mensuráveis o mesmo que ngola

Where the eye mixes gama and gola

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gama
4 ch
gola

Visual trap between gama and gola

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gama is /ˈɡɐ.mɐ/ while gola is /ˈɡɔ.lɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gama is recorded at frequency rank #3,333, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɐ.mɐ/. gola is at rank #24,999, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɔ.lɐ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 28332, this pair ranks #40,484 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gama vs gola

Shared letters: ag. Private to "gama": m. Private to "gola": lo.

"gama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "gola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gamaagma · gaam · gamma · ggama · gmaa
  • golaggola · gloa · goal · golla · ogla

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gama" for "gola" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gama" is a noun and "gola" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gama" or "gola"?
"gama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,333 in our Portuguese list, against #24,999 for "gola". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,484 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gama" and "gola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gola vs grua". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #40,484 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list